ABSTRACT ON "SAFE HAVEN PROFILE IN YEAR ONE"
This report summarizes the year one implementation of the Safe Haven Program, an anti-bias prevention initiative instituted in three secondary schools in Los Angeles County in 1999. The first year evaluation considered: (a) analysis of the components in developing consensus with community stakeholders, (b) time series trends in the consensus building process, (c) assessment of stakeholder knowledge of hate crime statutes, (d) establishing the role of Safe Haven during year one, and (e) student and faculty perceptions of program effectiveness to date. The evaluation methodology included archival content analysis of consensus building activities, climate interviews with school administrators, and individual interviews with individual students and faculty who participated in the implementation of Safe Haven. Our findings indicate that at the end of year one that implementation of the program had resulted in the establishment of a core group of students and faculty concerned with anti-violence issues. Interviews also revealed a clear need for greater faculty comprehension of the goals of the program recognition and ground-level buy-in from some of the school administration. Interview feedback emphasized the need to improve the institutional response to school-based bias incidents on-campus. Likewise, the need for greater training and education of both the Safe Haven staff and school personnel concerning bias prevention were noted.